Sunday, January 18, 2009

I'm in the Denver airport now, where they have no WiFi at all. Not even the pay-as-you-go kind. But I have this magic thingy that accesses the cell phone waves so here I am. Ha! Actually I've never seen the movie Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (referenced in the title). But I was on TV in Denver once. Never got a tape of that one, though. So I have no idea what it looked like. I was here last year when I did some speaking gigs in Boulder. That was fun. Hey Boulder! Have me out there again!

I wrote about the Boulder gigs in my new book. And speaking of that self-same new book, I just got a printed copy of it. Scary! This is definitely the most terrifying book I've written yet. To me, at least. Anyway, this means the books are now printed up, so they could start making their way into stores any time. The official release date is February 14th (it's the perfect Valentine's Day gift). But the way publishing works is that those release dates are just approximates.

I mentioned the death of Patrick McGoohan in my last post. I wanted to mention another important passing in this one. Dave Day, electric banjo player of The Monks passed away on January 10, 2009. The full story is here. The Monks invented punk rock ten years ahead of time with their 1966 LP Black Monk Time, released only in Germany at the time. The CD version is, fortunately, now available for all to hear. So go get yours today.

The Monks record was just a rumor to me for years. I'd read about it. But copies never showed up anywhere. Or when they did they cost several hundred dollars. I finally heard the CD in the mid-nineties and it was too intense for me to listen to it all the way through the first time I tried. And I played bass for Zero Defex! This was mighty massive pounding punkrock long before the word was even invented. In fact I'd say some of that record has yet to be matched by anyone for sheer in-your-face-ness. No wonder they broke up after just one album. If you ever needed proof that certain artists can see into the future, this record is it.

I just saw a really great documentary about the band called Transatlantic Feedback. You might be able to get it through The Monks official website. Unfortunately the producers of the film have been removing videos of The Monks from YouTube. This is an extraordinarily silly move on their part because those videos would have promoted their movie like nothing else possibly could have. I'd love to have linked to one here, but now I can't. Sorry.

I'm on my way to Dallas to visit my dad there. Nobody e-mailed me from the area, so I guess I won't be visiting any Zen centers while I'm there. I wonder if there even are any. I know the Sokka Gakkai people have a place in town. You can read in my new book about how I discovered that following my mother's death in the Dallas area in 2007 (look how many plugs I'm getting in today!). I'll be back in Santa Monica by Saturday, though, for those brave souls who may want to come do some zazen.

30 comments:

Bummer about the WIFIDIA provides free WiFi Internet access throughout the airport in Jeppesen Terminal and Concourses A, B, and C.

Your wireless device should automatically detect and connect to DIA’s free public wireless network. To connect manually, use the airport's service set identifier (SSID) of DIAFREEWIFI. The SSID is case sensitive, use all capitals when entering the identifier manually.

If you do not automatically connect, or if you are having trouble making a connection, call (888) 490-3771 for 24-hour customer support. Additional information about DIA’s WiFi service is available at aiport information booths.

Way to go. You hit every visible nail on the head. You know: "The nail that sticks up, we pound it down."

I bought the first 3 anthologies of the prisoner on DVD (9 episodes?) and will send them your was if you want 'em. Then you can sell 'em on eBay. I paid between $3 and $6 per DVD and they seem to be selling on the high side of $15 or even $20 now that the artist has died. It might be rice in your bowl for a few weeks...

I'll definitely have to check out the Monks. I could pick out a few other artists(?) whom may be considered the first punks. Hazil Adkins, Link Wray, small label rockabillies, Nuggets era garage bands....etc.

"Ruben Habito, founding Teacher of MKZC, received authorization to teach Zen from Yamada Koun in 1988, and was conferred the Zen name of Keiun (Grace Cloud). In his early twenties, Habito went to Japan in 1970 from his native Philippines and was ordained Jesuit priest in Tokyo in 1976."

Denver does have for-fee Wi-Fi, and I should know - I've spent interminable time there.

I'm a bit of a purist myself; the Maria Kannon Zen Center is one of those places that, thanks to sambokyoan magic, makes equal signs between Christian saints and boddhisattvas, somewhat distorting both traditions.

While I used to embrace the claim that one could be a good Buddhist and a good X, and while there are points of agreement between Zen Buddhism and almost any other religion, I'm increasingly of the point of view that from the standpoint of Buddhism, Christianity is defective, and vice versa and mutatis mutandis with any other religion or view about deities and philosophy.

I might go to Maria Kannon center to see the place and meet the people, but I would have to be apart from that group of people that is either a congregation or sangha.

All beings are worthy of respect and care and compassion and kindness, of course, where they are. But all beings' viewpoints and philosophies are not necessarily to be treated as equivalent to the Dharma, since in general, they are not the Dharma.

I was in the Denver airport a few months backed on jumped on some free WiFi.

I am from DFW (moved to central PA a few years back) and I had some friends that went to the Maria Kannon Zen Center; however I did not myself. There are many groups in the DFW that sit - that is where I started my Zen practice. It just seems, somewhat obvious I suppose, that members of those various groups do not read Mr. Warner's blog.

Hey Brad. Psyched for the new book. The last two hit me in the right place and I've internalized a lot of it. I work as a drug rehab counselor and I give Hardcore Zen to some of my patients as reading assignments. I tell them if they don't like it they are free to wipe their asses with it. Some do just that which is fine. I'm not trying to sell your books. But it's powerful for some.

I'm the meantime, my band just finished recording our newest record "The God Complex". It's heavily influenced and damn near plaidgarised (sic?) from your work. I posted the lyrics upon my blog. Thought you might be interested in checking out the end product of a hardcore record about Buddhism. Abgodcomplex.blogspot.com

I should add one other thing to this now that I have read Frank Rich in the Times:

Damn, but the Obama inauguration feels good.

Jimmy Carter was right. Jimmy Carter lived to see the grotesque greasy evil of Reaganism relegated to the ash heap of history.

And yes, it was greasy, slick, evil.

Brad, I don't know where you are, but there is so much associated with the "Age" of a political turnabout, you can't list 'em all, and all of 'em don't seem very Buddhist to me: "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," anything by Kenneth Blanchard, the riposting of "tree huggers," etc. and so forth.

We in the United States of America, have replaced the party that was ruling America at every branch except the Supreme Court.

And the latter will follow.

And we did it without bloodshed.

Sure it might look uncomfortably a lot like Japanese politics, where very little changes.

Things have already changed. The idea of competency in government ripples into competency in the private sector and can only be good for all.

An addiction treatment center is staffed by knowlegable professionals who have been trained to work with individuals who have been dealing with long-term addictive disorders. Problems like these are difficult to overcome, but with the right therapy and a good dose of encouragement, recovery is possible.

You have a good post over here. keep the good work growing!By the way, for alcoholics out there who need to attend AA meetings but couldn’t find one that details the AA schedule, I found a great schedule of AA’s at sober.com. I’m not affiliated with this site, I just want recovering alcoholics out there to find a comprehensive list of AA meetings just in case you are relocating or searching for an AA meeting in your new place. For the complete list of AA meetings, here’s the link: http://sober.com/aa-alcoholic-anonymous-meetings.html